Check Up

Young children who regularly eat dinner with their families, have less than two hours of screen time a day, and get enough sleep had a 37 percent lower obesity rate as those who did not follow any of the three routines, according to a study by researchers at Temple University in Philadelphia and Ohio State University in Columbus.

Temple’s Robert C. Whitaker and Sarah E. Anderson of Ohio State examined data on 8,550 four-year-old American children who participated in a 2005 assessment of their health status. The researchers examined the connection between obesity and three routines: eating dinner as a family more than five nights a week; getting 10 ½ hours of sleep a night; and TV or movies viewing of two hours or less a day during the week. The researchers then adjusted the data to account for race, the mothers' level of education, household income and other factors.